Little Boy Crying

Your mouth contorting in brief spite and hurt,

your laughter metamorphosed into howls,
your frame so recently relaxed now tight
with three-year-old frustration, your bright eyes
swimming tears, splashing your bare feet,
you stand there angling for a moment’s hint
of guilt or sorrow for the quick slap struck.

The ogre towers above you, that grim giant,

empty of feeling, a colossal cruel,
soon victim of the tale’s conclusion, dead
at last. You hate him, you imagine
chopping clean the tree he’s scrambling down
or plotting deeper pits to trap him in.

You cannot understand, not yet,

the hurt your easy tears can scald him with,
nor guess the wavering hidden behind that mask.
This fierce man longs to lift you, curb your sadness
with piggy-back or bull-fight, anything,
but dare not ruin the lessons you should learn.

You must not make a plaything of the rain.

‘Little Boy Crying’  by Mervynn Morris is a four stanza poem that is separated
into sets of lines that vary in length. The first stanza contains seven lines, while
the following two contain six. The poem concludes with a short one-line
phrase that attempts to wrap up the entire theme of the piece. Each stanza of
this piece is dedicated to one particular part of a young child’s experience. The
first describes his general state of being and his initial reaction to being
slapped by his father. The second turns to the father and depicts him through
the eyes of the child. He is an“ogre” to him in this moment.  

The final six-line stanza is told closer to the father’s perspective and describes

how he longs to comfort his child, but must maintain his composure to ensure
the lessons he is trying to teach are not lost. 

Summary
The poem begins with the boy’s emotions and his lack of control over how he
acts, and reacts, to things that happened around him. One moment he is
laughing and the next he is crying as his father slaps him. The reaction from
the father is described in the third stanza, but the second is devoted to the
boy’s feelings towards his father. He sees him as being a monster, an “ogre,”
for having hit him. He imagines all the different ways that he could kill his
father, as if he is part of an imaginary world. 

The final six lines stanza speaks of the father’s love for his son and how that
love has driven him to want to teach him important lessons. This particular
lesson involves not playing in the rain. He wants to reach out and comfort his
son, but restrains himself in an attempt to teach the child not to be foolish. 

Analysis of Little Boy Crying

Stanza One
Your mouth contorting in brief spite and hurt,
your laughter metamorphosed into howls,
(…)
you stand there angling for a moment’s hint
of guilt or sorrow for the quick slap struck.
In the first stanza of this piece, the narrator of the poem is able to look into
the mind of the child, who is the main character, and describe the intense
emotions he is feeling. He is young, only three, and is unable to control
himself. The stanza emphasizes the transition from laughter to sadness, fear,
and anger. The first lines describe the physical appearance of the child as he
laughs and how his mouth “contorts” into all sorts of interesting shapes.

The “laughter” that he was only just enjoying quickly turns to “howls” and his
“recently relaxed” body becomes tight. The poem does not give any further
description about what it is the child has done until the end, but one of his
parents, (later revealed to be the father), has slapped him. 

The child’s eyes begin to “swim” with tears. They are so numerous they fall
from his face and hit his feet. His second reaction, after crying, is to pause and
hope for some measure of guilt to show itself on his parent’s face. 

Stanza Two
The ogre towers above you, that grim giant,
empty of feeling, a colossal cruel,
(…)
chopping clean the tree he’s scrambling down
or plotting deeper pits to trap him in.
The child is going to be disappointed though as the “ogre” who is standing
over him at this moment shows none of the guilt the child is hoping for her.
This person, who is later shown to be the father, seems to be beyond love at
this point. He is not a member of the family, he is a “giant,” a monster to be
abhorred. 

The child looks like the father and feels that he must be “Empty,” and if he
contains anything it is “colossal cruel[ty].” At this moment the child “hates” his
father. There is no room for any other emotion in his young mind. 

The child’s mind works creatively, acting off the image of his father as an ogre.
He imagines he can “trap him” in a pit, or cut down a tree he is “scrambling
down.” These imaginations help the child move through the emotions of
sadness and anger. 

Stanza Three
You cannot understand, not yet,
the hurt your easy tears can scald him with,
(…)
with piggy-back or bull fight, anything,
but dare not ruin the lessons you should learn.
In the final set of lines, the speaker turns to the thoughts of the father but
describes them as if from a distance. There is no true emotion in them, only a
description of emotion. 
From this new perspective, the reader is able to grasp why it is the father
acted in this way. Why a reader might be wondering, does he not reach down
and comfort his child? The speaker knows a reader will be just as confused as
the child is, and makes a point to describe what’s being done. 

First, though, the speaker states that the child’s “tears” have the ability to
“scald” the father. Their presence and the emotions which accompany them,
burn the father as if they are acid. He hates that his child is crying and wants
to pick him up. He refrains from doing so, as well as from any other attempts
that might “curb [his] sadness.” This is all in an effort to keep from “ruin[ing]
the lessons” the father believes the child “should learn.” 

Stanza Four
You must not make a plaything of the rain.
The final line of the poem which makes up its own short stanza gives the
speaker a glimpse into what it was that angered the father. This simple
statement, “You must not make a plaything of the rain,” lets the reader know
that the child was probably playing around outside and lost control. Perhaps
he was splashing in puddles or running from his father. 
 

Summary
‘Little Boy Crying’  by Mervynn Morris describes the emotions of a child who is
struck by his father for playing in the rain.
The poem begins with the boy’s emotions and his lack of control over how he
acts, and reacts, to things that happened around him. One moment he is
laughing and the next he is crying as his father slaps him. The reaction from
the father is described in the third stanza, but the second is devoted to the
boy’s feelings towards his father. 

He sees him as being a monster, an “ogre,” for having hit him. He imagines all
the different ways that he could kill his father, as if he is part of an imaginary
world. 
The final six lines stanza speaks of the father’s love for his son and how that
love has driven him to want to teach him important lessons. This particular
lesson involves not playing in the rain. He wants to reach out and comfort his
son, but restrains himself in an attempt to teach the child not to be foolish.  

You can read the full poem here.

Analysis of Little Boy Crying

Stanza One
Your mouth contorting in brief spite and hurt,
your laughter metamorphosed into howls,
(…)
you stand there angling for a moment’s hint
of guilt or sorrow for the quick slap struck.
In the first stanza of this piece, the narrator of the poem is able to look into
the mind of the child, who is the main character, and describe the intense
emotions he is feeling. He is young, only three, and is unable to control
himself. 

The stanza emphasizes the transition from laughter to sadness, fear, and

anger. The first lines describe the physical appearance of the child as he
laughs and how his mouth “contorts” into all sorts of interesting shapes.

The “laughter” that he was only just enjoying quickly turns to “howls” and his
“recently relaxed” body becomes tight. The poem does not give any further
description about what it is the child has done until the end, but one of his
parents, (later revealed to be the father), has slapped him.  
The child’s eyes begin to “swim” with tears. They are so numerous they fall
from his face and hit his feet. His second reaction, after crying, is to pause and
hope for some measure of guilt to show itself on his parent’s face.  

Stanza Two
The ogre towers above you, that grim giant,
empty of feeling, a colossal cruel,
(…)
chopping clean the tree he’s scrambling down
or plotting deeper pits to trap him in.
The child is going to be disappointed though as the “ogre” who is standing
over him at this moment shows none of the guilt the child is hoping for her.
This person, who is later shown to be the father, seems to be beyond love at
this point. He is not a member of the family, he is a “giant,” a monster to be
abhorred. 

The child looks like the father and feels that he must be “Empty,” and if he
contains anything it is “colossal cruel[ty].” At this moment the child “hates” his
father. There is no room for any other emotion in his young mind.  

The child’s mind works creatively, acting off the image of his father as an ogre.
He imagines he can “trap him” in a pit, or cut down a tree he is “scrambling
down.” These imaginations help the child move through the emotions of
sadness and anger. 

Stanza Three
You cannot understand, not yet,
the hurt your easy tears can scald him with,
(…)
with piggy-back or bull fight, anything,
but dare not ruin the lessons you should learn.
In the final set of lines, the speaker turns to the thoughts of the father but
describes them as if from a distance. There is no true emotion in them, only a
description of emotion. 

From this new perspective, the reader is able to grasp why it is the father
acted in this way. Why a reader might be wondering, does he not reach down
and comfort his child? The speaker knows a reader will be just as confused as
the child is, and makes a point to describe what’s being done.  

First, though, the speaker states that the child’s “tears” have the ability to
“scald” the father. Their presence and the emotions which accompany them,
burn the father as if they are acid. He hates that his child is crying and wants
to pick him up. He refrains from doing so, as well as from any other attempts
that might “curb [his] sadness.” This is all in an effort to keep from “ruin[ing]
the lessons” the father believes the child “should learn.”  

Stanza Four
You must not make a plaything of the rain.
The final line of the poem which makes up its own short stanza gives the
speaker a glimpse into what it was that angered the father. This simple
statement, “You must not make a plaything of the rain,” lets the reader know
that the child was probably playing around outside and lost control. Perhaps
he was splashing in puddles or running from his father.  

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Home » Mervyn Morris » Little Boy Crying

About Emma Baldwin
Emma graduated from East Carolina University with a BA in English, minor in
Creative Writing, BFA in Fine Art, and BA in Art Histories. Literature is one of
her greatest passions which she pursues through analyzing poetry on Poem
Analysis.

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